NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Massachusetts sophomore Chaz Williams was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference First Team as voted on by the league coaches and announced by the league office on Monday.

Williams leads UMass in scoring (16.2 ppg), assists (6.4 apg), steals (2.3), 3-point FG pct (.403), FT pct. (.780) and minutes (33.8 mpg). He also ranks among the A-10 leaders in scoring (7th), assists (1st), steals (3rd) and assist-to-turnover ratio (5th, 1.8). He is on pace to finish the season as the first true point guard to lead the Minutemen in scoring, assists, steals and minutes since Donald Russell in 1981-82.

The Brooklyn, N.Y. native and transfer from Hofstra is the 54th first team all-conference selection in school history and the first since 2007-08 when Gary Forbes was named the A-10 Player of the Year. UMass now has 20 first team honorees since the league's inception prior to the 1976-77 season.

For Williams, it marks the second career postseason honor following his selection to the Colonial Athletic Association All-Rookie Team when he played at Hofstra during the 2009-10 campaign. He averaged 9.8 points and 4.2 assists while starting 20 games.

*** Complete Atlantic 10 Release with Award Winners is below ***

NEWPORT NEWS, Va.--The Atlantic 10 Conference announced Monday that Temple's Fran Dunphy has been named the 2011-12 Coach of the Year and St. Bonaventure senior forward Andrew Nicholson has been named the league's Player of the Year. The conference released the awards, along with the All-Conference teams in preparation for the 2012 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship, which begins Tuesday.

Saint Joseph's sophomore forward C.J. Aiken was named the Defensive Player of the Year while Richmond Freshman Kendall Anthony was selected as the Rookie of the Year. Sophomore forward Ronald Roberts of Saint Joseph's was voted the Sixth Man of the Year and La Salle senior guard Earl Pettis earned the Chris Daniels Most Improved Player Award.

The individual awards, along with the All-Conference Teams, were selected by the Atlantic 10's 14 head men's basketball coaches. The All-Academic Team was chosen by a vote of the league's 14 sports information directors.

Dunphy led the 24-6 Owls to their first outright regular season title since the 1989-90 season with a 13-3 A-10 record. Temple had an 11-game winning streak under Dunphy and has lost just three times since mid-December. That includes wins over No. 3/5 Duke, Maryland and Wichita State.

Nicholson led the league in scoring at 17.9 points per game and second in the A-10 in rebounding with an 8.3 rebounds per game average. He's scored 25 or more points in four of his last five games and he's broken 30 points four times this season

Aiken ranked fourth nationally and led the Atlantic 10 in blocked shots with 3.7 blocks per game. He also ranked ninth in the league in field goal percentage, hitting 53.8 percent of his shots. Anthony ranked second at Richmond in scoring, averaging 13.4 points per game, scoring 20 or more points five times this season. He was named A-10 Rookie of the Week in three of the first four weeks.

Roberts played in every game for the Hawks this season, but did not start, averaging 11.1 points and 6.0 rebounds (third on the team) per game off the bench. Pettis, who averaged 9.1 points last season as a junior, but played a major role in La Salle's resurgence, leading the team with a 15.2 points per game average, which ranked 11th in the Atlantic 10.

The Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship begins Tuesday with four first-round home games. The winners of those games advance to Atlantic City to face the top four seeds (Temple, Saint Louis, Xavier and St. Bonaventure), which receive first round byes in Friday's quarterfinals beginning at noon ET. The semifinals will be played Saturday starting at 1:00 p.m. ET and the Championship tips off at 1:00 p.m. Sunday.